


group a

by shogo



Category: Psycho-Pass
Genre: AU, Angst, F/M, Happy Ending, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Schizophrenia, attempted suicide, happy-ish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-18
Updated: 2017-05-18
Packaged: 2018-11-02 08:20:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10940610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shogo/pseuds/shogo
Summary: in which the world is a crazy place, but the members of group A are even crazier





	group a

**Author's Note:**

> possible trigger warnings include mentions and d/x of mental illnesses, mentions of and attempted suicide, ocd triggers, and implied ptsd from a witnessed event. the suicide one is really big, so please watch yourself if that's something that bothers you.

**i. twenty-three minutes**  
  
  
  
  
Shusei _knows_  he’s crazy, so he's never understood exactly  _why_ he was placed in the ward at all. Besides, isn't the biggest symptom of madness rejecting your madness?  
  
"I don't understand why I’m here." He informs the Group. There are several other people around the circle, including the new girl, Akane, who is rather quiet but has a nice smile and sad eyes, like she’s not quite put together just right. He’s already sure that she’ll fit in fine here.  
  
"And why is that, Shusei?" asks their nurse, sounding every bit the false, plastic pretender. He can tell that too. Tell that she's fake in her words and actions and doesn't really care about him at all. He wishes she could pretend a little better. He wishes he could accept the lie a little better.  
  
The boy seated next to him, a real delinquent type he thinks, (but mostly because of his crossed arms and unruly black hair that seems to stick up as though he's been zapped by a power outlet), snorts and pipes up rather unhelpfully, "Shusei knows he's crazy."  
  
Shusei shoots him a withering look before nodding in reluctant affirmation. "I don't think I cause any harm to society or to myself."  
  
"Maybe it's not harm." says the nurse, the smile stretching in a weird, forced way. She's not even trying anymore, "Why would you think you cause harm?"  
  
Enough with the pointless questions, Shusei thinks to himself, and the delinquent-- Shinya, Shusei thinks is his name-- looks over at him with dark, unreadable eyes and a blank expression. He's a real strange one, Kagari has slowly begun to realize, there are many secrets lurking under that gaze.

He pointedly decides not to think about it any more.

Shogo, who’s been here for longer than any of them but who he’s rarely ever heard say more than a few words in Group, speaks up instead, much to the surprise of the group, "It’s not permanent", and to Shusei he sounds very normal. Sincere. Exactly the kind of tone Shusei wishes the doctors and nurses would take on when they look at him and speak to him in their cold, clinical terms.  
  
"It's only a recovery facility, yes." the nurse replies with a sickly sweet voice, turning to cast a quick glance towards the last member of group A, Nobuchika. He's tall and dark haired with what seems like a permanent scowl etched onto his face. He had tried to kill himself. Apparently it hadn’t exactly gone as planned, Shusei guessed.

Shinya has been here for nearly nine months, and Shogo was here long before him. Shusei showed up only a month ago, Nobuchika four days ago, and Akane today.

The doctors and nurses like to group the younger patients together. For moral support or something, but it isn't really that good of an idea in Shusei's opinion because all it’s really done so far is create suspicious glances and weird tensions throughout their odd, rag-tag team.

He has no idea how their lives all tie together.

 

*

  
Shinya's current roommate graduates the ward at the exact time that Shinya is taking what he feels is a well-deserved nap. When he wakes up not twenty minutes later, his roommate has packed-- and _that_  is exactly how he drew such a wonderfully well-deducted conclusion.

(He used to wish, when he was younger and wide-eyed, that he’d grow up to become a detective. Wishes now that he hadn’t been outed as a lunatic and crammed into a facility where he could rot away without being a disturbance to society.)

"You're leaving?"  
  
"Yup." says the other boy, Kozuku, proudly. He's about two years older than Shinya, nearly eighteen, and is finally more than sallow skin and hollow eyes from seeing and doing and living through things that nobody should ever have to.  
  
"Congratulations." Shinya offers, but he doesn't really quite manage to mean it. So sounds funny as he says it, like the words don't want to come out quite right. He wonders if this is how the doctors feel when they talk to him in the ER after one of his Bad Spells but wonders more about how  disappointed he is about not being the one leaving. He _should_ be the one leaving. This boy's barely been here four months, not even half the time Shinya's been trapped in this place.

He swallows back the bitter taste on his tongue and slowly sits up to watch silently as Kozuki finishes packing the last few items he has in his possession.

"Thanks, and good luck. You’re gonna need it." Kozuki replies with an easy smile still plastered onto his face. He's one of the few people Shinya's met here who can still genuinely smile. And he’s also one of the few people here that Shinya actually likes. He’ll be missed.  
  
Shinya is allowed to walk down the outside path with Kozuki and wave him a bittersweet goodbye. The older boy has become a fixture in his life, part of his routine. Not only that, but it was rare to find someone so lighthearted in here nowadays. Everyone else was sullen expressions and downturned mouths. The ones who weren’t quite as broken always left so quickly, taking their light away with them.  
  
So when he begins the return to his room, only to find the new kid Nobuchika now hovering in the doorway, looking vaguely lost, he once again forces himself to swallow back the ever prevalent feeling of frustration that bubbles up when this place forces change upon him. They stare at each other wordlessly as Shinya quietly closes the door behind him and eyes the small backpack the other boy is carrying. He won’t be here all that long by the looks of what he’s been given. Soon to be another one gone. No use in civility then, why bother when it’s simply yet another temporary aspect of his life.

“Are you my new roommate then?” Shinya asks him eventually.

“I guess.” Nobuchika mutters, eyeing the ground and looking distinctly uncomfortable and Shinya can’t really blame him. They’ve all been where he is. Even knowing that, it still doesn’t make him want to extend any more of an olive branch than he absolutely has to. It doesn’t really do to get attached when they’ll be gone before you can blink.  
  
"What's your name?" Nobuchika finally interjects with a slight tilt of his pointed chin. Shinya supposes that it's supposed to look intimidating, but the combination of the other boys thin appearance as well as his own thickened skin and hardened muscles from years of public school and an unstable home had long ago rendered these small acts of resolve against him useless.  
  
“Kogami. Shinya Kogami." he replies, forcing himself to smile. "And you're here because you tried to kill yourself.”  
  
Nobuchika's eyes snap to Shinya's quickly, the green irises narrowing to slits and body going absolutely rigid. He's suddenly much more intimidating now, but Shinya remains resolutely unfazed, vaguely interested in the spine the other boy’s suddenly managed to grow. "Who told you that?" Nobuchika demands.  
  
"I can read your mind." Shinya says simply before plopping ungracefully onto his bed. Cot. What was little more than a thin sheet spread over a threadbare mattress. Deep in the back of his own muddled mind, he knows that it's more so that he's just really, really good at reading people. A mentalist. But it's never really registered with the rest of his mind, so he'll likely never know-know.  
  
They stare at each other again, a standoff of sorts. Shinya is tired and wants badly to simply lay down and go to sleep, but he knows that he’s supposed to go ahead and give the other boy a quick tour of the place.  
  
Then, "I didn't try.” Nobuchika finally replies hesitantly, voice still soft and quiet. His long bangs hide his face well, and he clenches his fists tightly into balls. "I wanted too, so I called in. I'm only going to be here for two weeks."  
  
"Good for you then." Shinya says honestly, if a bit dryly. They'll see about that. Release dates are nearly never accurate. If you're here at all then you're here for a reason. “I suppose I’ll introduce you to everybody then." Shinya sits up and beckons Nobuchika to follow him despite the quiet protests. However, when he opens the door as quickly as he does, it hits something, and they hear a loud, "Oww, fuck!"  
  
"What's--" Nobuchika asks, and Shusei is outside holding his nose and glaring at them, a dark scowl twisting his features.  
  
"Were you spying?" Shinya questions suspiciously, brows knitted together.  
  
"No, not at all. I was just passing by."  
  
"But your nose--" starts Nobuchika.  
  
"Yeah, he's a klepto." Shinya informs him, casting Shusei a dirty look. He was certain-- mind reader, remember?--that the other boy was behind his missing socks. Nobuchika looks vaguely affronted at this news and shoots a worried glance back towards his backpack in the room.  
  
Shusei huffs and stutters, staring at Ginoza and flushing the same shade as his hair. “Only sometimes.” He mutters quickly and then he's dashing off at full speed ahead, down the hall on sliding, brightly socked feet.

 

*

  
  
They come across Shogo first, huddled in the bay window of the rec room. A bound book sits on his lap and his head bowed as his attention is completely consumed by the novel. It wasn’t exactly an uncommon sight and Shinya felt a fond smile twitch at his lips as the boy came into view.  
  
"This is Shogo." Shinya introduces to Nobuchika as they approach the albino. "He’s reads a lot and he's been here even longer than me. I still don't really know what his issues are."

Shogo doesn’t react to their presence, giving no indication to hearing Shinya speak at all. Shinya rolls his eyes and nods at Nobuchika to follow him down the hallway near some of the other rooms. He taps on Shogo’s book as he walks by and is rewarded by a sharp look of disapproval from a twin pair of golden eyes. Shinya feels that fond smile stretch his lips just a little further.  
  
There are quite a few other people here, and Shinya names the ones they come across off as they go along. Mika, a pathological liar, Mido, a social media addict, Togane, a textbook sociopath, etc etc. Then the dinner bell rings and they are ushered by nurses to the dining hall, where Shinya grabs Nobuchika and seats him down next to Akane. "And this is Akane, who you should already know. You two are both new. You have no friends here. So make friends."  
  
"Hey," Akane protests weakly. "Do you really have to be so... honest?"  
  
Shinya shrugs noncommittally.  
  
Nobuchika looks over to him, just as Shusei sits across from Akane, and asks, “So what's wrong with you?"  
  
Shusei interrupts with an unhelpful, “He’s schizo."  
  
Shinya immediately casts him a sharp, withering look while Nobuchika says, “You mean like Norman Bates?”

Shusei snickers at that, “Yeah, exac-”

Shinya kicks Shusei under the table.

Shusei winces, forehead hitting the table, because Shinya is not merciful when he can't think of being merciful because he is thinking of things having to do with... it's completely Shusei’s, fault anyway-- and Akane is looking back and forth between them with wide eyes.  
  
Nobuchika doesn't really understand either, but he’s been in just enough group sessions to explain, effectively ignoring the two bickering boys. “...Well that’s news to me, I guess I thought his problem was that he thinks he’s psychic."  
  
That catches Shinya’s attention.

"I am psychic." He replies sharply, "And stop profiling me. Save the armchair analysis for my shrink, thanks.”

Nobuchika and Akane cringe at being caught while Shusei bursts into laughter. “Geez you’re such a stick in the mud, Kou.”

“Hm.” Shinya grunts before casting a critical eye over Akane. “Now what’s your deal?”

“Twenty-three.” Shusei suddenly says.

Akane flinches and freezes up where she’s sitting.  
  
“Wha-”

“It’s like OCD or something.” Shusei tells Shinya and the now mildly alarmed Nobuchika. “She’ll snap out of it in a second.”

Akane kicks Shusei under the table. _Hard._

“Yes,” Akane turns an anxious look to Shinya, the tops of her cheeks flushed. "I have to apologize if I don't pay in exact change, and then I just keep apologizing. Then of course everything must be clean, obviously. But I think I'm crazier than this, because I’m also struggling with the number twenty-three. Like right now, it has been twenty-three minutes since I left the rec room.” She pauses. “See, how do I know that?”  
  
"I don't know..." Nobuchika replies uneasily, shoveling some sort of grey peas into his mouth and watching as Shusei pushes his around with a disdainful stare. "You have an internal clock?"  
  
Shinya smiles humorlessly at that and meets Nobuchika’s gaze. “And you have an internal bomb." And it's true, Nobuchika may just kill himself yet, but this place gives him exactly the challenge he is up to facing.

  
  
  
**ii. foam swords and plastic knives**

 

  
  
"Why don't you ever listen?! They killed him! They cut him all up into pieces, and it’s all my fault!"

Shinya is in the middle of one of his Bad Spells, as they call them, and during these he always screams at the blank spaces on the walls and to random people passing by (it happened to, unfortunately, be Dr. Kasei today) as if there’s somebody there who can hear him and understand what he’s talking about. Everybody who is slightly more sane can tell this is not really happening, but maybe Shinya hears God’s voice in his head, or something.  
  
Shogo observes through the glass window separating the wreck hall from the nurse's office, where the drugs are. Dr. Kasei is also watching, blank and cold and clinical as the dark haired boy is being restrained, thrashing violently, and screaming out nonsensical madness at everybody in the vicinity.

“Listen to me!!” And then also watches as Shinya is then being injected with something that causes him to quickly slump forward into unconsciousness.

The people next to Shogo are whispering things, cruel and questioning as they watch the events unraveling in front of them. They didn’t understand and they never would. The masses simply liked to see that there were people in worse states than they were.   
  
Shogo slowly peels away from the scene wordlessly, a thick book clutched faithfully under his arm as he threads his way back to his room to lay on his bed and stare at the cracked ceiling. There wasn't any point wandering around this place, risking chance encounters with kindly facades and pointless conversations if Shinya wasn't anywhere he could get too.

Shinya was the only thing in this place worth anything to him.

 

*

 

It's now been two days since the latest Bad Spell when Shogo finally risks venturing into the library only to walk in on a tired looking Shinya sitting at an empty table and staring at the chess pieces in front of him with a solemn expression on his face.

“I think that the game would go a little smoother if there was more than one person playing.” He hears himself say, light amusement lacing his words.  
  
Shinya starts a little and then grey eyes are flashing up to meet his gaze accusingly. "You snuck in on me. I was preparing."  
  
“Well, I didn't want to disturb you."  
  
Shinya processes this, then smiles a little. "It's fine. I'm already disturbed."  
  
Shogo isn’t quite sure this is a joke, but smiles back anyway. They were all a little disturbed here.

He takes a seat across from Shinya and arranges the game pieces on his side into their places with meticulous care. Shinya watches him wordlessly, rolling the black king piece around in his hand.

“Well now, we can’t play if you don’t have a king.” Shogo points out with a wry smirk as he finishes placing the last piece-- the queen-- into position. “The game will be over before it’s ever even begun.”

Shinya snorts in response and pointedly puts the king down into its spot on the board.  “You know how to play?”

“Who do you take me for?”

Another small smirk twitches at Shinya’s lips for a brief second, but he doesn’t say anything more about it. He gestures towards Shogo’s pieces. “Alright then. White goes first.”

Shogo hums and makes the first move, letting the game begin. The two of them sit in a comfortable near-silence, only the hum of the heater and occasional cough of somebody else occupying the room from another corner. It’s easy and relaxed, just as it always is when it’s just the two of them. A rare turn from the chaos that would usually await them at any time elsewhere in the building.

It’s as the game finally begins to pick up pace, nearly all of the pawns discarded and all face pieces coming out from hiding, that Shogo says softly, “So how are you feeling?”  
  
“Fine."  
  
“Shinya don’t lie to me."

Shinya huffs quietly, taking his other knight. “You know, sometimes you sound an awful lot like my therapist.”

Shogo hums again. “I’m a better listener.”

Shinya’s eyes flicker up to him then, dark grey lighting up fleetingly with amusement, before he looks pointedly at the board again for Shogo to make his move. “Sorry, but I'm not completely convinced of that. Saiga’s pretty good.”

Shogo's lip twitches, moving a randomly chosen piece forward. “Did he talk to you today?”

“That’s really not any of your business.”

“I’m really not trying to pry Shinya, I just wanted to know how you felt. You made quite the scene the other day.”

“Well considering that I’m not screaming at anybody in the vicinity, biting the doctors, and tearing apart everything in my path I’d say that I’m doing pretty well.”

Shogo sighs.

Shinya looks at him again and this time seems to deflate. He then reaches up and hesitantly runs the pads of his fingers lightly onto the back of Shogo’s outstretched hand. They sit there for several minutes like that, Shinya softly sweeping his thumb over the pale skin. “I am,” He says quietly, “but I’m just so... tired all the time. Like somebody’s just opened me up and taken everything out of me.”

“That’s what they do here.” Shogo tells him, turning his hand to brush their fingers together instead. Shinya has nice hands. Long, slender fingers and warm palms. He’s fair, but not quite as pale as Shogo. Their hands fit together nicely, like they weren’t meant to be anywhere else but here, secured together. “They want you to forget who you are.”

Shinya snorts and gingerly pulls his hand away. He makes his move on the nearly-forgotten game, and it’s rapidly becoming clear that he is much much better at this game than Shogo.

The silence lapses around them again as the game once again begins to pick up, but Shogo can tell that Shinya has something else that he wants to say. So he waits for it, silently moving his pawns forward and watching the graveyard on Shinya’s side steadily increase with the white, marbled game pieces.

Then, finally, he hears Shinya clear his throat across from him. “I’m here _because_ of who I am.” He murmurs, ending the game rather anti-climatically with nearly twice the number of pieces on the board. He spares Shogo a defeated look despite his victory and carefully begins to clear the board.

“So let’s see them do their worst.”

 

*

 

  
Nobuchika’s on some type of meds he can’t pronounce the name of at the moment, and he takes them, but mentally, they don't do a whole lot. And when the sun rises on his fourteenth day here, he "graduates" and is surprised that his Group is actually sad to see him go, even if it had been only a few short weeks.

(‘Sad’ is maybe a strong word to use to describe the way the rest of his Group reacted. Shogo had characteristically seemed rather apathetic, whereas Shinya and Shusei had already made it abundantly clear to him that they didn’t expect him to be gone for very long. Only Akane seemed truthfully upset, but that could also be because now she was to be trapped here with the other three.)  
  
Well, he thinks, either way, they're the only ones who'd be like that. When he gets home to his smiling parents he feels sick. His father has that same serene look on his face that he always does; he probably doesn't even realize how dismissive to everything he looks. Or how callous he responds to everything for that matter. And it’s not that his father tries to be that way. It’s more so that he doesn’t _try_ to be anything different.

So he throws up in the bathroom, and then proceeds to overdose on his antidepressants. He hadn’t even been sure that was possible, but finds out that it is when everything heats up and he gets dizzy. He realizes he hits his head-- hard-- on the edge of the granite counter corner as he falls, and feels the dizzying warmth of blood pooling around him on the tiled bathroom floor; he's ready to die.

 

*

  
  
When Nobuchika wakes up, his heart is still beating. His lungs are still breathing and his hands are still shaking. His head has a constant, throbbing ache and talking in the background and a familiar figure hovering just over him- the cheeky smile, the dark glower, the mushroom haircut and narrow golden eyes. Seems the whole crew was here. "See? Weren't gone long.” Shusei chirps from his spot perched on one of two visitor’s chairs once he takes notice of Nobuchika’s open eyes. “Took you long enough to really wake up though."  
  
"How long? Have I..." Nobuchika finds it hard to form words, like he’d swallowed cotton.  
  
Shinyai is not smiling like Shusei is; he looks disappointed more than anything else. He’s lounging on one of the two chairs with his feet up and Shusei is slouched on the arm. "You’ve been waking up and spouting gibberish for a week. Are you ready to be sensible now? You should know I’m the only one allowed to be extremely nonsensical here."  
  
"That’s right!” Akane pipes up. She’s standing the closest to him, hovering just off to his right. Her eyes are open and earnest and Nobuchika would be lying if he said he hadn’t feared never seeing them again. “You missed it, he had a fit and it lasted two whole days!"  
  
Shogo, the last one to speak from his spot in the remaining armchair just next to Shinya’s, looks over at her, and says, "Twenty-three", and it really is a switch, because Akane goes quiet and very concentrated-like and Shogo turns back to Nobuchika, looking very normal and very sane. More than he should be allowed to look in a place like this. "Why did you do it, Nobuchika?"

Maybe it’s the fact that he has such a soft voice, or maybe it’s that there’s genuinely no judgement of any kind reflected in those golden irises.

Regardless, he hasn’t talked much at all to Shogo, and really only a handful of times outside of Group sessions. But Shinya seemed to be close with him; Nobuchika had often come upon the two sitting close to each other, heads ducked into a book, had witnessed first hand Shinyai sneaking out of and back into the room long after curfew had been called to meet up with the other boy.  
  
“...I don't know.” He answered eventually. Honestly. “Because I wanted too.”  
  
Shogo watches him then and Nobuchika feels himself twitch. He didn’t like being analyzed like this, being made into an animal behind glass walls. But neither of them say any more, and silence lapses like a heavy fog.  
  
"Of course," Shiuse says, breaking the silence, "this all means that you're going to be here a lot longer.”

Nobuchika nods slowly. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“And you’ve only _consciously_ been here for a week.”

“That’s right.”

“Well then, “ Shusei starts, just as Shinya stands up to leave, linking his hands behind his head. Shogo follows suit, a book tucked between his arm and his chest. The two of them looked at him with near matching expressions and wow, Nobuchika had never noticed how _complementary_ the two boys looked standing side by side.  
  
Shusei laughs, breaking Nobuchika’s observation as the redhead stands to join the two of them and flashes Nobuchika a dark grin. “wait until you see how suicidal you feel after you’ve been here a few _months_.”

“...Um, on that note, we actually snuck in here. We should probably go before a nurse catches us.” Akane tells Nobuchika, obviously flustered.

(“Was that too dark?” “I thought it was very honest.”)

“Yeah and I've got six stars in the time your stupid-faced self zonked out. Fourteen more and I'm out." Shusei says from across the room. He jumps up, salutes Nobuchika before rushing forward to drag a waving Akane away.

Finally alone with the silence once more, Nobuchika notices the monitor's incessant beeping. It drives him up a wall.

 

  
**iii. let them eat cake**

 

  
  
Akane's now been here for three months, Nobuchika (consciously) for about two. He's still recovering, looks pale and complains a lot.

She worries about him, doesn’t like seeing the dark circles under his eyes and his defeated posture.

But then she also worries about things like how she has more carrots than peas at dinner, and that the two of them greatly outnumber the corn, so she’s not sure how valid that makes either of those.  
  
But the nurse is cornering Nobuchika today at Group, who isn’t really talking much these days to the staff. Akane blames Shinya and Shogo; they _really_ weren’t the best role models for how to someday get out of this place.  
  
"Why don’t you talk to us about your incident last week? We’d all love to help you in any way we can, you know that, don’t you?”  
  
"I don’t want to do that." He replies, staring down at his feet. His voice is flat and monotone, and Akane knows that this is all a waste of time. He didn’t respond back in the infirmary when Shogo questioned him, and even with his carefully crafted expression came off as more genuine than the nurse.  
  
"Why not?" says the nurse.  
  
“You wouldn’t understand. It’s-- I can’t explain it.” Nobuchika snaps at her, and it quickly becomes clear in the silence following that he’s not planning on following it up with any more information.  
  
But Akane sort of knows whats he means, even if it’s not really about the same thing. She’s struggled her entire life with explaining why she does what she does; the quirks and odd mannerisms accumulating many raised eyebrow looks over the years. It’s hard to talk about certain things without lying to make it all seem sense to the people you're talking too, and Akane understands that all very well.  
  
So she feels closer to Nobuchika after Group that day, decides to see if they have more in common. But Nobuchika is good at disappearing off to who knows where, Shinya and Shogo are good at quiet murmurs and shared glances and subtle touches, and Shusei is good at nicking peoples socks and assorted plastic silverware from the dining hall.

So when she’s not alone, she's stuck with Crazier and Craziest, as she one day joins Shinya and Shogo’s non-game (no rules, really) of Egyptian ratscrew. The game does end up in fun, because Shogo's the only one who can concentrate long enough to slap doubles, Shinya’s too wound up trying to beat Shogo that he’s _really_ not doing all that well, and Akane adds or subtracts every card until she has twenty-three, only slapping then and obstinately claiming the cards as hers. Both boys eventually get tired of this, but at this point she’s too amused by the irritated twitches they make when she purposely (but not really) makes a nonsensical move. It’s when Shinya is opening his mouth to speak his mind to her that she sees Nobuchika zipping by just outside the door and quickly jumps up to follow him.  
  
She follows him into the empty rec room, watching as he pokes through the assorted schedules for slots in the computer lab or in the library. "Um," she finally says, not able to think of a better ice breaker then ‘I followed you here because I want to friend you’, “it's recess."

Nobuchika stares at her, blinking. “Yes... it is."

“Well do.. would you like to go out and talk maybe?"  
  
“...Sure. Fresh air sounds nice, I guess." Nobuchika cautiously replies after the initial startle. "But I wish that they wouldn't call it recess."  
  
"It is what it is." Akane shrugs, failing to notice Shusei spying on them, and they end up sitting in the grass, pulling at it and finding out that once upon a time ago they went to the same middle school though they were some years apart.

"Small world." Akane laughs lightly, and Nobuchika gives her a smile. By this time, Akane had noticed Shusei's stalking, mainly because he had also been joined by Shinya and Shogo at one point, who didn’t so much seem as interested in the stalking as the fact that Nobuchika was hanging out with a girl, as they are crouched behind the very short white fence and peering over it at them at times, until Shusei says something stupid and Shogo says something mean right back and Shinya's sprawled out on the grass laughing and blowing his cover. He's not in one of his Good Spells at the moment, anyway.

Akane almost can't stand to be around him during these times.  
  
"Hey," Nobuchika calls her, after they adjust a schedule. Akane meets Nobuchika in the rec room, and they usually spend morning recess together usually doing nothing, but sometimes talking. It's nice, and Shinya and Shogo are clever enough to keep Shusei occupied and far away from them.  
  
The ninth time they are together, Akane decides to breach a touchy subject. It’s a nice day outside, cloudy but sunny and not too windy but not too stale. They’ve gotten closer, Akane knows that. She’s not very familliar on the whole idea of ‘friends’, but she’s pretty sure that friendship is what she’d say she has with Nobuchika. “Hey, can I ask you something?"  
  
"Go ahead. But only if I’m not required to answer."  
  
"Deal." Akane says, offering him a small smile. She pauses then, reaching down to pluck up more grass. There’s a small pile at her side, but nobody’s told her to stop messing with the lawn yet so she doesn’t. "Why do you try to hurt yourself?”  
  
There’s silence until Nobuchika hums, breath whistling slightly out of his pursed lips. "It's not really that I’m suicidal." He eventually says, following copying Akane; ripping up more grass and fingering the dirt beneath, the thirsty roots now without hope.

"It’s just-- I hate my dad.” And it’s here that Nobuchika hesitates, lowing his head to hide his face behind long, uneven fringe. "But it’s more than that, obviously." He continues after a moment, “He abandoned me and my mom chasing after a criminal-- he’s a detective-- and got thrown into jail. He never tried to get out or go to court, and when he was finally released on parole, he never tried to reconnect to us. He just went right back to work.” Nobuchika chokes up for a second and pulls harder at the grass. “I hate that he doesn’t care." He whispers. "I hate that I’m not good enough to get his attention.”  
  
Akane is young and unwise, so she hadn't been expecting such a deep answer-- supposes she should have-- but it's okay, because she's not really sure what he's saying, but it must make sense, because Nobuchika looks up to her and offers her a sad, small smile. It’s the best reaction she could’ve hoped for.

"Well," Akane is saying, "anyone who leaves their family is in the wrong, even if the causes for doing so were good-intentioned. But maybe now the problem is that he doesn’t know how to talk to you again. Like when you come back to school after summer break and it’s strange to talk to your friends in person again. And I do know that hurting yourself is the worse way to hurt somebody else. In the end it’s just you being damaged over and over again.”

Nobuchika makes a soft, noncommittal noise, and while Akane can tell that he doesn’t really agree with it, she can see that he’s at least mulling her words over.

“Just think about that. Please. I didn’t like seeing you hurt, Nobuchika."  
  
Shusei is making binoculars with his hands and watching them from behind a very small flower pot, as if it makes him invisible. Shinya scoffs at him and walks by, shuffling his feet with his hands in his pockets and pretending like he’s not curious about their conversation.  
  
And so it goes that Nobuchika calls home that night. He doesn’t tell her much about the conversation, if it went good or bad, but Akane thinks that he’s at least beginning to come to terms with the whole thing. So she also tells him not to talk to the nurse anymore, in front of the nurse mind you, because she knows that the nurse doesn’t see this whole thing as a twisted retaliation against Nobuchika’s father and his own feelings of inadequacy.  
  
The nurse always says, "Why are you trying to slow his progress? Why?" and Akane always tells her to screw off, and because of that, she never gets another star towards her escape.

This is generally seen as a Bad Sign, but right now, she doesn't care. Shogo has very few stars for all his sane appearance, and Shinya somehow is in the negatives on his chart. Nobuchika is in the same boat as her, and so she finds that she’s strangely okay with the whole situation.

They’ve all become a strange, twisted sort of family in the time they’ve been together, and so when she looks at the chart telling them their release dates, Akane really doesn’t mind what she sees.

 

  
  
**iv. roller coaster junkie**

 

  
  
Shogo reads a _lot_. Shusei sees him with a new book every day, and Shinya confirms to him that, yes, Shogo really does finish an entire book in a day. So Shusei takes to reading over his shoulder, (and also picking up already finished books from the library drop box when Shogo is feeling agitated that day and doesn’t allow Shusei to hover), and has gained a lot of knowledge because of that.

And because Shinya can read Shogo's mind, and regularly confides in Shusei when he’s not entirely okay, the redhead now knows that Shogo is a genius, and planning a very intricate and a very complicated way to escape, (probably) take over the world, and (probably) rule with an iron fist. Shusei also used to think that Shogo didn’t belong here at all, that he was completely sane and this was all a mix up.  
  
He thinks this up until the time he sees Shogo rolls his eyes and smiles a rare, genuine smile at an aggravated Shinya who’s ranting about the ‘homework’ Saiga had given him, (which was, ironically, really just a self assessment on anger) and then everything suddenly becomes clear to him.  
  
"I don't think I should be here." He says, redundant.  
  
"And why do you think that?” His therapist answers evenly without pause.  
  
"Because I can function in society, I just choose not to. Like Shogo. He’s smart and talks to people and everybody respects him and he’s only here because he-” he stops.  
  
"Shusei?"  
  
"Nevermind." Shusei sighs. He’s not even sure the two boys had figured it out yet, and he definitely wasn’t going to ruin their one chance by blabbering to the tyrants in a poorly conceived protest for freedom. He’d just ask Shogo to take him along once his escape was all planned and ready to go.

(He was later told _why_ Shogo is here through a particularly Bad Spell on Shinya’s part, and quickly changed his tune.

Shogo would probably be here forever.

But that doesn't stop him from silently rooting for the anarchy of an escape, nor deter him from continuing to read from over the other boys shoulder.)

 

**v. silence is golden**

 

 

They received three new additions to their strange little group today.

There were two girls, (a curvy blonde named Shion and a quiet, dark haired girl named Yayoi), and a boy, (a tall Korean boy with a definitively disturbing smile named Choe).

They weren’t technically additions, more like loans as the group they were currently in had a meltdown from a (former) member who was going absolutely nuts trying to get at the nurses and doctors and screaming all types of alarming, terrible things.

So it was, that their Group of five was now updated to eight. Shusei was distrustfully eyeing the three of them while also subtly trying to check out the girls. It wasn’t as subtle as he seemed to think it was however, and was quickly told to ‘stop being creepy’ by a disgruntled Akane. Nobuchika was hesitantly and awkwardly trying to converse at insistence of the nurse in the room, but Shion seemed to be the only one normal enough to hold a decent conversation seeing as Yayoi’s exact issue was that she didn’t talk at all, and that Choe seemed to possess a bit of an authority problem.

So of course it was Shogo of all people who made the first move, the most charismatic of the bunch, striking up an easy conversation with the Korean boy, seemingly oblivious to the obvious discomfort of Shinya at his side as the raven eyed Choe with distrust.

This wasn’t a good idea, Shinya concluded quickly, so he told the nurse so.

“This isn’t a good idea.” He tells her, a dark scowl already in place.

Of course, the nurse doesn’t think he really knows what he’s talking about, and quickly jumps into an obviously pre-rehearsed speech about teamwork and getting along. Shinya barely resisted the urge to throw-up as the entire time he’s being _tortured_ , Shogo and Choe continue to talk.

He’s distinctly upset at Shogo after Group, so he quickly decides that he’s going to go off to the library without the other boy. It’s there that he comes across Yayoi, who’s huddled in on herself and staring wide eyed across the room at Shion who’s occupied on the single computer that they’re allowed to without supervision in the computer lab.

“What are you doing?” He asks her, remembering too late that Yayoi doesn’t talk.

She doesn’t respond, (shocker), and instead whips her head around to look at him with wide, dark eyes. She stares at him for a moment before looking back over at Shion with a look that Shinya’s well familiar with.

“Oh.” He says, and suddenly feels much closer to the dark haired girl. He crouches down next to her and squints over in the direction of the blonde. They sit there in a comfortable silence for a few moments, and Shinya grudgingly admits to himself that maybe not _all_ of the new temporary additions were bad. Because anybody with an (possibly) unrequited crush couldn't be all that terrible. “I have the same problem.” He confides in Yayoi, comfortable with the fact that she wouldn’t ever spill the beans about his secret.

She narrows her eyes at him, tilting her head in confusion.

“No, not Shion.” He corrects, and wrinkles his nose a bit. “Not my type.”

Yayoi looks vaguely amused with that.

“You probably know who it is.” Shinya says, feeling his eyebrow twitch a bit. According to Shusei it was ‘painfully obvious and also gross’.

Yayoi nods, now definitely looking amused.

Shinya sighs and follows Yayoi’s gaze as she quickly turns back around to follow Shion’s movements as the blonde gets up from her spot at the computer computer and exits the room.

“This sucks.” Shinya sighs again and Yayoi nods her agreement as they sit huddled together ridiculously on the second floor balcony of the library.

 

*

 

“Where have you been off to all day?” Shogo asks as Shinya finally makes an appearance. He plops down right next to Shogo on the rec room’s couch and offers the albino a wide grin.

“I met someone.” Shinya tells him, relishing the look of surprise in the albino’s expression. Ha, take that. Shinya could make new friends too.

 

  
  
**vi. stained glass in empty chapels**

 

  
  
"So I called God the other day," Shinya is saying, off on a tangent. He seems to feel comfortable doing these around Shogo. Shusei says that it's because they’re so similar, and although Shogo really doesn't exactly welcome the implications that he might be a(n alleged) schizo, even though symptoms had once guessed that he might be, it’s not very difficult to see the likeness between them.  
  
"How on earth did you manage that?" Shogo asks, curious. He folds his book down on to his lap, intent on listening to how this conversation plays out. Shinya always has interesting things to say, but during his Bad Spells they have just a little more spontaneous ‘oomph’ to them.  
  
Shinya turns to blink wide, grey eyes at him. "I have his mobile."  
  
Shogo hums and nods, wondering if God really has a cellphone. "Of course.What’d he say?"  
  
"The winged things aren't going to go away." replies the other boy. “The things that talk to me.” He groans and flops down onto the couch directly next to Shogo. "I really hate my life."  
  
Shogo smiles wryly and watching as Shinya settles restlessly. "I hate mine more.” He says quietly.  
  
"Let's not compete." Shinya tilts his head at him, and it's the casual way he finds Shogo's palm to pull him off the couch-- the sky is dark and heavy outside and second recess is ending, the kids loud as they come back inside-- entwines their fingers like silk, like they belong together, that makes Shogo’s chest tighten in a strange foreign way that he hadn’t even been sure was possible.

He doesn't think too much about it.

Shinya leads him away to the seclusion of the library and they sit down at the chess set they’ve taken to leaving out. The library has become their own private little world, an easy way to escape from the nurses and doctors and other Group members to just be with and enjoy each other's company.

“We all know it’s just a bunch of bullshit anyway." Shinya continues honestly, looking up to meet Shogo’s eyes.  
  
Shogo ends up wondering about that. He's now been here for years at this point, losing track a long time ago, and there is school-- it's a lot like homeschooling. He doesn't really plan to graduate, never really cared to anyway, and the teacher can't control them or the girls they have class with.

It's a psych ward, who’s expected to?

 

*

  
  
During Group, Shinya seats himself just a little bit closer than usual to Shogo and Shogo doesn't really get it, tries to shove him off, but Shinya, who has more than just a few pounds on him, refuses to budge. They then learn that Nobuchika is graduating tomorrow, and something about it obviously doesn't sit well with Akane. She looks almost betrayed, a carefully placed smile on her face that seems genuine to everyone but Shogo, who’s well versed with masks and faked reactions.  
  
Of course Shinya notices that Shogo notices something off and later confronts him on it with a warm hand holding his as they sit side by side on the floor outside the door to the courtyard. It catches Shogo unaware and he’s quickly and far too easily distracted by the other boy. Shinya’s hands are larger than his, not by a whole lot, but enough to be comforting and a very _real,_ very needed presence.

“They’ll be okay.” Shinya says finally, rubbing small circles onto the back of Shogo’s thumb.  
  
“And just why would you think that?" Shogo asks back, once again feeling a jolt of interest in Shinya's cleverness. Of course, he knew that Shinya wasn’t stupid, was far from it. He just sometimes forgot the reasons that had attracted him to the other boy in the first place. “Once somebody leaves here they always forget about us.”

Shinya’s silent for a minute, thinking it over. “Not them.” He says. “When you belong together you don’t forget about one another.”

Shogo laughs, tilting his head back against the wall. The concrete is cold, and Shinya’s skin is warm. They’re sitting so close together, sides pressed together and Shogo feels dizzy from the contrast. “You think that they’re that great of a match?”

“Maybe.” Shinya tells him, eyes trained on the pale expanse of Shogo’s throat before flicking his eyes up to meet golden ones. “I guess we’ll see.”

Shogo hums and closes his eyes. Sometimes it’s too much. There’s too much swimming around in those grey irises, too many feelings that Shogo’s not even sure he’s capable of shining through. “She cured him.”  
  
"She did.”

Silence.

“I didn’t expect much from her.”

Shinya leans in against Shogo’s neck, exhaling heavily in an amused snort. Shogo can feel Shinya’s lips curl in a smile against his throat. The other boys dark hair is soft and tickling at his jaw, but Shogo doesn’t have the heart or willpower to push him away anymore. “I know you didn’t.” Shinya murmurs, warm breath sweeping over Shogo’s skin.

Silence.

“When are you going to leave me?” Shogo whispers, bringing up a hand to curl his fingers in the short hair on the nape of Shinya’s neck. It’s barely audible, the words being swallowed up by the dark halls almost immediately. But Shinya suddenly has a grip on him, arms curling around his waist and face burying deeper into the crook of Shogo’s shoulder.

“I’m not.” He whispers back.

Shogo swallows thickly and thinks back to all the times he’s heard those words said to him. All the times they’d been proven to be lies, and every time he’s left to pick up the pieces and tape together a new mask in their wake. “Do you promise?” He says, just as softly. He feels like such a child, so much younger than he’s felt in years. He’s never felt this fragile before, as if the boy holding him now were to leave he’d simply shatter into pieces.

He can feel Shinya's lips pull into a smile against his neck as he brushes his lips against the hollow of Shogo's neck in a soft, barely-there kiss. "Of course," he murmurs, "I promise."

 

*

 

In the morning they say goodbye to Nobuchika. There are even tears on Akane's part, even though Nobuchika reassures her with a kind smile and a soft touch on the arm that he'll still be coming in biweekly for therapy, as well as to visit them. Shogo is graceful about the whole thing, calm and detached in just the right way. They all know that he’s seen many others come and go, and in a strange way it’s nice to have a placid reaction amidst the tears and other general chaos in a mental ward. It’s Shusei who reacts rather uncharacteristically, staying silent with a sullen expression on his face. He sighs, looking away at the floor. The nurses jump on this, naturally. "Shusei, are you sad that Nobuchika is leaving? Do you want to say anything?"  
  
This is one thing the human brain will never work out-- silence is nice. Nobody can expect anything of you, even if they ask you questions. So Shusei says nothing and Nobuchika smiles, like he knows anyway, and the rest of the day is a very quiet one.  
  
Until they all suddenly hear a series of very loud shrieks and a heavy, terrible shattering noise from just down the hall. Dashing out of the rec room reveals, a bloodied Shinya with a balled up fist nearly in ribbons. The glass window separating the doctor's hall from the ward dorms is quite broken, shards littering the floor and blood dripping down the white, white walls.  
  
It’s Shogo who moves first, moving forward at a steady pace as if he was on a casual stroll rather than on a dangerous embarkment towards a bloody and possible schizo. It’s Shogo who doesn't hear, or doesn’t heed, the people shouting at him to back off, because this is one of Shinya's Worst Spells, and Shogo recalls the last time that one of these happened, remembers that Shinya wasn’t very human at all. He doesn't care. He knows why he’s here in the first place and knows what kind of monster he is that ensures that he’ll be here forever.

The nurses are reluctant to go near, even if Shogo is in potential danger, but they know what he is and then and he's taking hold of Shinya's shoulders, turning him around, holding his wrist-- likely just as broken and shredded as the glass littering the floor.  
  
Shinya sucks in a heavy breath, grey eyes wild and unfocused and he _shoves_ Shogo away with all his strength, but he's also shaking painfully, obviously upset and the shoving doesn't get very far before he's pulling Shogo back and burying his head into the albino’s shoulder just as he’d done the night before. Shogo feels his skin crawl and his throat tighten when he holds onto the other boy, because Shinya flinches when they inject him with anesthesia, and he's still awake, wide, broken eyes, when they tear him away from Shogo.

 

*

  
  
Shogo eventually comes to the conclusion that the strange feeling is insanity, not love, because he’s not capable of it, knows he’s not and has been told so many many times, but fights to stay in Shinya's room nonetheless as his hand is treated and he continues to sleep on. But when he wakes later, groggy and wide-eyed, he twitches and shoots back and away from Shogo.  
  
"I'm sorry I--" Shogo starts to say, but Shinya, snaps out his uninjured hand to grip tightly onto Shogo’s wrist. He doesn’t hold back either, and Shogo winces at the pain. It’ll surely leave bruises but before he can say anything more Shinya is suddenly talking again in strange, jilted sentences.  
  
"You! It-- you’re-! Why didn't you-- you."  
  
"I'm what?"  
  
“It’s _your_ fault! Not wings. White. I’m not psychic. Why now? I was going too--" he begins to hyperventilate, and the monitor he is hooked too starts to beep faster.  
  
"Calm down." Shogo urges, leaning towards him but Shinya flinches away again, keeping his grip on Shogo. His eyes are narrowed and his nostrils are flaring. His entire body is tensed for action and Shogo wonders for a brief second if the other boy’s going to attack him.  
  
“Your fault.” He says again, voice strange. “I remember now.”

“It’s my fault.” Shinya tells him, not sure what it is that they’re talking about but beginning to have a sinking, grim feeling settle tight in his chest.

If anything, that only upsets Shinya more, his handsome face twisting up and the monitors continue to go wild. He’s twitching everywhere, simultaneously trying to get away from Shogo and also grip him tighter. He doesn’t seem to know if he should be angry or upset and the warring emotions are clear as day on his face.

“Shinya, please, you need to calm down.”

That seems to do it, only in the wrong way. Shinya does calm down but he suddenly jerks Shogo closer and stares him down closely, eyes narrowed into slits and mouth set into a hard line. He hardly resembles the boy that Shogo’s come to know, never having been unfortunate enough to be at the receiving end of Shinya’s wrath.

“I know what you did.” He says and Shogo feels his blood run ice cold in his veins.

“What did I do?” He asks, forcing himself to calm down. This all seems so very unreal. Why Shinya of all people to recognize him, why the one person Shogo’s ever met he’s ever held a genuine interest in?

Shinya tightens his grip even further, twisting the thin wrist in his grip just so. The bones crack in protest, sending stinging pain up Shogo’s arm but he doesn’t bother to react this time. Shinya wasn’t reacting the way to things that Shogo knew him to, everything was off and he’d never felt so out of control of a situation before.

“How old were you? Twelve? Thirteen? You couldn’t have been much older than that, but you’ve been here for a long time haven't you? A long time... Longer than I thought though apparently.”

Shinya stays silent, fighting to keep his face blank. It wouldn’t do to give anything away, and Shinya had never before fallen for his lies or tricks.

“Jesus.” Shinya whispers. “Why would you do something like that? _How_ could you?”

“I didn’t know that you knew him.” Shogo murmurs.

“Why should that matter?!” Shinya barks right back at him. “That doesn’t change the fact that he was a person, that you-- _Christ_ Shogo, you--!”

The monitor is beeping nearly constantly at this point, and before Shogo can even formulate a response or an excuse or _anything_ , Shinya tears off the wires connecting him. He stands abruptly and stalks over to the door, dragging Shogo along with him. He bolts the door, (which in all actuality would only provide maybe a few minutes more of privacy before the nurses fetched a key), and pushes Shogo up against the door where he pins him with shaking hands.

“What is _wrong_ with you?” He asks, and it’s the raw, open tone of his voice that really stings deep. Shogo is perturbed, not knowing if what he’s feeling is guilt--no it can’t be-- or regret that his actions have somehow caused the chain reaction of making Shinya this angry at him.

He would’ve done things differently back then, if he had known.

“More than you know.” He settles for, eventually. Honestly. He can’t lie to Shinya anyway and they both know it. “There was no more reasoning behind it to me than when you stabbed a nurse your first week here with a syringe.”

Something flickers in those grey eyes, slow and painful before they slide shut and Shinya leans forward to rest his forehead against Shogo’s. His breathing is still uneven but the tight grip Shinya has on his slowly starts to give.

“He was my friend.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You’re not.”

Silence. Then, “I didn’t do it to hurt you.”

Shinya laughs, the sound harsh and brittle. “I know that, obviously. You did it to hurt _him_.”

“I didn’t.”

“Then why?” Shinya asks him, opening his eyes. They’re so close but somehow much further than they’ve ever been but Shogo can feel Shinya’s fury starting to die away despite everything. The past is the past, and here, where they’ve come to know each other better than any other and where they’ll most likely remain together for years and years to come- what other options are there really? And Shogo had never been picky about people's feelings towards him, strangely greedy to be in their thoughts at all when he was so easily dismissed and forgotten. “Why did you do it?”

“Because I’m not put together quite right, Shinya.” Shogo murmurs and pulls his hand away from Shinya’s grip quite easily. He brings his fingers to rest lightly on the top of Shinya’s cheeks and tries to tell himself that this won’t be the last time he’s able to so intimately touch the other boy. “You know this. And I can’t really apologize for who I am. It’s all I really have after all.”

Shinya is quiet for a moment. “When I found him I--” he stops, “I-- these spells I have, I don’t know if they’re related but I just _feel-_ -” He takes a deep, shuddering breath and doesn’t continue.

Shogo continues brushing his fingers over Shinya’s face, eventually sliding his hand through Shinya’s hair to tangle in the thick locks. “I know.” He says just as softly. “I know.”

They stand there in silence for a few moments longer, neither wanting to break the illusion that they’ve so carefully crafted around themselves. None of the nurses have come yet, but that wasn’t uncommon when Shinya was involved as his tendency to get grow overexcited drove the nurses crazy with constant paging and beeping.

But even here, in a cold, clinical room and pressed against the cool metal of an infirmary door, Shogo was reluctant to move. Shinya was warm against him, comforting and strong. He could feel Shinya’s initial anger melting away, more so giving up than anything else. There was too much between them now, too much to throw away when they both had so little.

And Shogo wondered just how long Shinya would remember this new found information, and when they’d have this exact same conversation again. Because Shogo knew Shinya, and had started to piece together what was wrong with the other boy within their first few months together no matter how tight lipped the raven was about his condition.

“I won’t leave you.” Shinya finally says, the words whispered as if they were a great secret.

A soft choking noise escapes Shogo as he lets his eyes slide shut before he reveals too much. He’s so relieved, so overwhelmed by those simple words. He doesn’t trust himself to respond, so he doesn’t. He’s not capable of feeling these things that he somehow _is_ , and he’s never felt more out of his element than he does right now.  
  
“Thank you.” he finally says, and the voice that comes out doesn’t sound like him at all. Shinya shakes his head and makes a sound, and Shogo doesn’t-- can’t-- know how difficult this is for him, but is grateful all the same, and so Shinya leans the rest of the short distance between them and kisses Shogo like he’s wanted to for _months_ and yes, all of this is definitely insanity, because they're here, and they’re together so what else could it be?

 

**vii. and so it goes**

  
  
The next time he comes back, Nobuchika slowly begins to realize that he might just be here forever. He's not sure about Shusei, and the pair that Shogo and Shinya make. But Akane will be here for a long time, so he's not sure that he really minds. Because now, the wings are always there and Shinya's always crazy, and Shusei is always stealing socks because it's just like that. And if it isn't, because everyone has their doubts, he can always kill himself tomorrow.  
  
Morbid thoughts, Nobuchika chuckles to himself. He's been off his meds for four days. Akane comes up behind him and points at their three stars each. "Combined, it's fourteen left again."  
  
"Give it ten years?" Nobuchika teases.  
  
"Dunno, I like the way twenty-three sounds better." she says this right as Shusei passes them in hot pursuit of the visiting therapy cat with an intent to steal it away and keep it for as long as he can before the nurses realize its disappearance.  
  
"I'm recovering!" Shusei shrieks back at her disapproving expression, still trying to woo the cat.

And when Nobuchika looks over to the other side of the room as he hears somebody laugh, Shogo is propped up against Shinya with his feet slung up onto the couch and the two of them have never looked more at ease with each other. Shinya is looking over Shogo’s shoulder at whatever he’s reading and they’re both smiling as they argue about some silly thing that doesn’t really matter to anyone but to the two of them.

Everything just seems so _right_ between the five (eight?) of them now, and Nobuchika’s not sure that he’s ever felt so at home before.  
  
"Twenty-three means forever, right?" Nobuchika finds himself asking, not really sure what he's saying, but Akane understands just as she always has and nods.  
  
"Sounds good to me."

 


End file.
